The present invention relates generally to speed-regulated or isokinetic exercise apparatus, and more particularly to improvements in devices for simultaneously exercising two or more limbs.
Recent advancements in the design of exercise apparatus have emphasized the importance of simulating as closely as is practical the movements of the specific activity for which the training is performed. Often, however, it is found that in such activities as running, swimming, jumping, rowing, etc., the limbs of the body are naturally moved in a complexly coordinated fashion that is difficult to duplicate in a training device.
Exercise apparatus has previously been devised which attempts to simulate the natural movements of the body in athletic activities. However, those devices which most sucessfully approximate natural coordination often consist of separate exercisers for each limb. In other devices, more than one limb may be linked to a single exercise resistance mechanism, but movements are limited to simple, and unnatural, coordination relationships between the limbs.
In the specific case of isokinetic exercise apparatus, wherein the exercise resistance is provided by relatively sophisticated and expensive speed regulation mechanisms (see, for example, my U.S. Pat. No. 3,848,467), it is most impractical from an economic standpoint to utilize multiple exerciser mechanisms for a single apparatus. It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to improve upon prior devices in the provision of a bilateral isokinetic exerciser wherein multiple limbs of the body may be simultaneously and independently exercised against a resistance provided by a single speed regulation means.